Angels of Gold (First Book in Angels Series)

Chapter 31

"It takes a strong person to say sorry, and an ever stronger person to forgive." ~Vanessa Guzman 

Ryder

I wonder the halls after dinner not really wanting to go anywhere. I see an open door with someone pacing the room. I feel the need to get a closer look. 

I walk into the room, not really thinking of what I am doing at the moment. The person whips around, almost faster than the speed of light. "Who are you?" He asks. 

"Ryder," I reply. 

"And what are you doing in here?" He asks with suspicion. 

"No clue," I reply. "Who are you?" I ask. 

"Augustus," he says. 

I think my jaw drops but I wouldn't know since I am in so much shock to be face to face with the Augustus. "I would think that you would be in a prison cell or something," I say. 

"Ha!" He replies with a smile. "I thought that is where they were going to put me when I first got here." 

"How long have you been in here?" I ask with genuine curiosity. 

"Thirteen days," he says with a sigh. "What is your business here anyways? There are hardly ordinary Warriors in the House of Angels without reason." 

I question whether I should tell him or not. "I brought Lady Adaline here," I reply with honesty. 

"Addy is here?" He asks with a mixture of shock and disbelief. 

I just nod my head. 

"I'm surprised," he says. "She hates me." 

"I don't think that she hates you," I say with a shrug. 

"So, she has talked about me?" He asks with his arms crossed. 

"Not a lot," I honestly reply. 

"How is she?" He asks. 

"She is...good." 

"Thank God," he says with a sigh of relief. "You are friends with her?" He inquires. 

"I don't even know," I say with a shrug. 

"More than friends?" He asks but with no hint of jealousy. My face must reveal the truth because before I can even answer, he speaks again. "She's wonderful, isn't she?" 

"She is," I say in agreement. "Probably screwed it up though." 

"Doubt it." 

"You don't even know what happened," I say. 

"But I know her," he argues. "It's hard to screw things up with her. Give her some time to cool off and then talk to her or she will even come to you," he explains. 

"And you aren't jealous or anything?" I ask with confusion. 

"No," he says with a shake of his head. "Things between us ended centuries ago. I have no feelings for her in the romantic way or anything." 

"Okay," I say with a little hesitancy. 

"What was the argument even about?" 

"I never said we had an argument though." 

"I kinda figured," he says nonchalantly. 

"The first impression her father had of me is of me kissing her and I had no control over that and yeah," I say. "I wanna make a good first impression." 

"So, she tried to convince you that it was okay and there are other chances?" He asks. 

"Pretty much," I reply. 

"Sounds like this is something you brought onto yourself. Yeah, sure, she didn't exactly understand where you are coming from with this first impression thing but you are the one who was angry at the situation and now she is angry at you for being angry at the situation but you are in a way bringing it on yourself," Augustus summarizes the argument. 

I look at him in shock. 

"And so she refuses to talk to you until she is ready. She doesn't like it when people are angry, especially when she cares about them. She is trying to let you cool off and figure some things out but she is just going to be a little passive aggressive about it and then realize her mistake about being that way and then apologize to you." 

"How do you even know this about Addy?" I ask. 

"We had plenty of arguments," he replies. "And that is pretty much how it went too." 

"So what should I do?" I ask. 

"There is no right way to go about this. You can try to talk to her but if you already tried that then it definitely won't work again but if you ignore her completely especially if she tries to talk to you then you are in deep trouble with her. She is stubborn and she won't want to talk to you even if deep down she does but she isn't going to want you to try to talk to her because she is stubborn about that too." 

We continue to talk for about an hour before I decide to head back to my room. I wonder back slowly to my room, contemplating what Augustus said. I thought that he would be the jealous type but he isn't. He wants to see her happy but he doesn't love her anymore. I guess time does heal all wounds even if those wounds were caused by love. 

When I reach my door, I see Addy standing there, leaning against the wall. "Ryder," she whispers so quietly that I can barely hear her. "Can we talk?" She asks, looking up at me. 

"Wanna talk in here?" I ask her, gesturing towards my bedroom. 

"Sure," she complies. 

I open the bedroom door, letting her walk in first and then I shut the door behind us. 

"I'm sorry," she says before I have the chance to say anything. "I'm sorry for being a total bitch to you earlier." 

"I'm sorry too," I reply. "I took my anger out on you." 

"Do you forgive me though?" She asks. 

"Why wouldn't I forgive you?" I ask with confusion. 

"Because I clearly didn't take the time to understand what you were mad at and when you did try to talk to me, I shut you down." 

"Addy," I begin, taking her into my arms in a hug. "I will always forgive you because you are someone who I want to be with and I want to not have these arguments and this argument was stupid and I would be stupid to not forgive you. Now do you forgive me?" 

"Well..." she says, pulling back from me a little. I look at her in shock and confusion thinking that she actually hasn't forgiven me before she bursts out laughing. "Of course I forgive you!" 

"Thank God!" I say with a grin and with relief. "What did I do to deserve you?" I ask. 

"Well, you brought me here, you have saved me several times, and you are just downright amazing. You did everything right," she replies before standing on her tip toes to kiss me on the cheek. "But I think the question really should be, how on Earth do I deserve you?" 

"By being stubborn," I begin. 

"Willful," she corrects. 

"By being willful, witty, smart, saving my sister, beautiful, teaching me the true meaning of one's dignity, and so much more," I reply before leaning down to kiss her gently.